DEMOCRATIC PREDISPOSITIONS AMONG COLLEGE-STUDENTS IN HONG-KONG

Hong Kong is now undergoing dramatic change toward a democratic politi cal system. College students' attitudes there toward direct election a nd the democratic reform proposed by the Governor were investigated. T hese specific political attitudes are hypothesized to be related to mo re fundamental symbolic predispositions according to symbolic politics theory. These symbolic predispositions include one's political awaren ess, political tolerance, and trust in China. With a survey of 1,520 c ollege students in Hong Kong, it was found that students' support for direct election was positively related to their political awareness an d political tolerance and negatively related to trust in China. Simila rly, students' endorsement of the Governor's reform proposal was posit ively related to political awareness and negatively related to trust i n China. This may reflect the symbolic processing underlying students' formation of specific political attitudes.